Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37439964›Full record

ArticleJournal of patient-reported outcomes2023

Depression trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic: a secondary analysis of the impact of cognitive-appraisal processes.

Carolyn E Schwartz, Katrina Borowiec, Bruce D Rapkin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of patient-reported outcomes, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Toward characterizing brain fog in long COVID: correlates and impact on measurement metrics.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Long-COVID symptom burden and the experience of adversity: the importance of response-shift effects over 3 years of the pandemic.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  4. Disabled from work and depressed: cognitive factors associated with exacerbated or attenuated depression over the COVID-19 pandemic.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024
    Article
  5. Individual differences in the long-term impact of the pandemic: moderators of COVID-related hardship, worry, and social support.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Carolyn E SchwartzDeltaQuest Foundation, Inc., 31 Mitchell Road, Concord, MA, 01742, USA. carolyn.schwartz@deltaquest.org.ORCID 0000-0002-9173-7774
Katrina BorowiecDeltaQuest Foundation, Inc., 31 Mitchell Road, Concord, MA, 01742, USA.
Bruce D RapkinDepartment of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis study characterized depression trajectories during the COVID pandemic and investigated how appraisal and changes in appraisal over time related to these depression trajectories.

methodsThis longitudinal study of the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic included 771 people with data at three timepoints over 15.5 months. The depression index was validated using item-response-theory methods and receiver-operating-characteristic curve analysis. The Quality of Life (QOL) Appraisal Profile

resultsSequence analysis generated six trajectory groups: Stably Well (n = 241), Stably Depressed (n = 299), Worsening (n = 79), Improving (n = 83), Fluctuating Pattern 1 (No-Yes-No; n = 41), and Fluctuating Pattern 2 (Yes-No-Yes; n = 28). While all groups engaged in negative appraisal processes when they were depressed, the Stably Depressed group consistently focused on negative aspects of their life. Response-shift effects were revealed such that there were differences in the appraisal-depression relationship over time for standards of comparison and recent changes for the Stably Depressed, and in health goals for those Getting Better.

conclusionThe present work is, to our knowledge, the first study of response-shift effects in depression. During these first 15.5 pandemic months, group differences highlighted the connection between negative appraisals and depression, and response-shift effects in these relationships over time. Egregious life circumstances may play a lesser role for the Stably Depressed but a greater role for people who have transient periods of depression as well as for those with improving trajectories (i.e., endogenous vs. reactive depression). How one thinks about QOL is intrinsically linked to mental health, with clear clinical implications.

Indexed as

COVID-19Quality of LifeCognitionDepressionHumansLongitudinal StudiesPandemicsAppraisalChronic illnessCOVIDDepressionGeneral populationResponse shift

Identifiers

PMID37439964
PMCPMC10344849

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.